Worth More

What is your soul worth?

In a world that constantly tells women to measure their value by their appearance, accomplishments, relationships, success, or what they can gain, Jesus asks a deeper question: “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” — Matthew 16:26

In this episode of A Woman in the Word, we’re reminded that our worth cannot be found in what the world can offer us. Your soul is worth more. Your purpose is worth more. Your relationship with God is worth more.

Together, we’ll explore Matthew 16:26–27 and what it means to choose eternal significance over temporary success, surrender what is pulling us away from God, and live from the truth that our lives have immeasurable value in Him.

You don’t have to prove your worth. You don’t have to chase what was never meant to satisfy you.

You are worth more than the world could ever give you.

Come be encouraged, challenged, and reminded to keep your eyes on what truly matters.

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Stay rooted in the Word and faithful in the journey.

Transcript

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Welcome to Woman in the Word, the podcast where we dive into scripture, ask real questions, and walk through the Bible together, one honest conversation at a time. I'm Felicia Parker, I'm your host, and I'm so glad you're here. So whether you're new to the Word or you've been studying for years, there's a seat at the table for all of us. So grab your coffee, open your journal, or put on your walking shoes, and let's get into it. Hey, welcome to the Woman in the Word podcast. I'm so excited that you are joining me today. As always, I really look forward to our conversations. Um, and I'm excited about this one today. Today we are talking about worth more. So let's go ahead and jump into it. So let me just say before we jump into the episode, shout out to all the moms that are out there purposing to parent God's way. And I'm telling you, it is not easy, but I know there's going to be much fruit produced in the lives of my children and my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren in doing this. But I'm telling y'all, there are some hard days when it comes to parenting and then parenting God's way. And let's just say today was one of those challenging days for me. My kids were first getting ready and then they start kind of dragging along, and then you know, now we're running behind, and that's when I get a little impatient. Impatient means I start saying, Hey, look, you're gonna get disciplined if you don't get it together. And um, so it was just one of those days this morning. So by the time we got to school, I was so irritated that I was like, Hey, have a great day. Love you so much, be respectful in your class, uh, you know, honor, you know, the leadership of the school and let people see your light. And I was just like, love you bye, you know, but I was so frustrated, and God checked me. Um, he convicted me, and I came home, y'all, and I was crying, and I was like, Lord, help me be a better mother. Oh my gosh, I just feel like I'm failing. Has anybody been there before? And I was really just struggling this morning and just asking God to help me to be more like him. And how many of us know God is always trying to point out the things in our life, not to be that person that's just ultra critical just to break us down and make us feel small. No, it's to point out the things in us that don't look like him so that we can look like him more and more each and every day. So I purposed in my heart that when my kids get home from school, I'm gonna apologize and let them know, hey, I could have handled things better even though we were in a rush. Because they need to see a parent apologize, which shout out to all the parents that apologize. And if you don't, your children really need to see that modeled because if they see it in you, it'll help them um to do it with their own life. Um, because I I read this quote that children um they may hear a little bit of what you say, but they're watching everything you do. Lord have mercy. Um, so I purpose to apologize, and I just want them to know that they're loved, that they're seen, that I can slow down and take the time and not be rushed. Anyway, I just wanted to share that a little bit. So shout out to the moms, to the parents, to the grandparents, to the aunts, great uh godparents, anyone that has a hand on a child in a way where you are helping to raise that young person into adulthood, shout out to you because it is not easy, but yet it is so worth it. Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming. So today we are talking about worth more. And y'all, this one has okay, let me just say, shout out to Miss Rosinda. I saw her at a women's conference over the weekend, and she says, Hey y'all, hey y'all, and I looked back and I was like, Oh, hey, and she goes, You say that on the podcast so much. I was like, shoot, shout out to you, and I'm gonna work on it. So I'm gonna count how many times I say that in this episode. Oh my goodness. So today we are talking about worth more, and this comes from Matthew chapter 16, and it it rocked me when I read it because I try to read scripture over and over and over again so I can get out of it what God is saying to me. So Jesus, he is um letting his disciples know at this point, he's letting his disciples know, okay, this is what's gonna happen to me. I'm going to die, I'm gonna be raised again after three days. So prior to he says, What do people say about me? Oh, maybe you're, you know, a prophet, maybe you're um John the Baptist, you know, maybe you're all these people. And then he says, Well, who do you say I am? And Simon Peter answers, You're the Messiah, the Son of God. And so Jesus goes on to say that he's gonna build his church on this rock, changes Simon's name to Peter, all the things. And then it says in verse 20, then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. But because now that they know he's the Messiah, he's he goes on to plainly explain what's gonna happen to him in the coming times. And so Peter, Jesus is saying, Hey, I'm gonna go be turned over, I'm gonna be treated harshly, I'm gonna die and be raised again. And Peter goes on to say, No, it's not gonna happen to you. Oh, God forbid, I don't want that to happen. And Jesus tells him, Get behind me, Satan. He wasn't saying, Peter, get behind me, Satan. He was saying to that response, to that spirit, get behind me, the spirit behind the words, get behind me, Satan. And verse 23 will pick up there. It says, Get behind me, Satan. You are dang, you are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view and not from God's. And I love this because it segues right into what Jesus is now going to be talking to the disciples about. Verse 24, Jesus says to his disciples, If any of you want to be my followers, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. If you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what does it benefit you if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? We're gonna camp right there on verse 26 and 27. What does it benefit you to gain the whole world and lose your soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? And I I love these verses, and you just run it over in your mind, and it's like, okay, Lord, he posed a question that is so thought-provoking. Oh my goodness, he says, Is there anything worth more than your soul? And and we may say, real quick, absolutely not, there is nothing worth more than my soul. But he makes it very clear. What does it benefit a man to gain the whole world and lose their soul? He's asking a question, what are you getting when you gain the world and lose your soul? You're really getting nothing. But yet, if he's posing the question, it's because he's addressing things that have happened already that he wants us to be aware of, saying that, hey, there have been people willing to gain the world, the things of the world, the accolade, the financial, you know, stability, the relationships, the friendships, the titles, the promotions, the house, the car, all the things. But yet they're losing their soul. And he's letting us know, is there anything worth more than your soul? What he's saying is there are people out here willing to lose their soul over a material thing that once they die will no longer be in their possession. And he says, Is that worth more than your soul? And this is gonna be just a simple podcast of asking us all, what's worth more than your soul? And we may say nothing, but if we're honest and we look over our life, we may have to be brutally honest and say, Man, my soul was worth that friendship. My soul was worth that promotion at work. My soul was worth that car or that house because it brought me a feeling of, you know, being better than or moving forward, you know, better than my family or my friends. Or maybe, maybe my soul was worth that marriage, even though I know it wasn't healthy, it wasn't ordained by God, but it but it looked good and it sounded good, and you know, it it felt good, all the things. What could you look back on your life and say, man, I did put a price on my soul? I mean, I know for me, I can look back on my life and say there were times that I put a price on my soul. I put a price on my soul to be significant. So if that meant compromising uh my Christian boundaries, at times I was I was willing to compromise my boundaries because I wanted, I wanted to be accepted, I wanted to be included, I wanted to feel significant. And if I would have died in that moment, I'd have had to stand before the Lord and explain why my soul was worth people and their approval. There have been times where I feel like I put a price on my soul in regard to the money a job could could provide me because in that I felt like it brought value to who I was, not realizing that Ephesians 2 already tells me that I'm a masterpiece. Didn't realize that. So I put a price tag on my soul based on how much they were offering me at the job, and if I could negotiate it to be even higher, now I'm even more valuable in the eyes of the world, therefore in my own eyes. I don't I don't know what it is for you today. But I would say take take a good evaluation over your life and say, has there ever been something that is worth more than my soul? And if you're honest, you'll find something throughout your life to say, yeah, mm-hmm, I see it. And my prayer is that we all have a testimony to say, at one point there was, but to this point there is not. I pray we all have it a moment of sobriety to say, hey, I've been putting a price on my soul, and it stops today. That I will never allow anything to be worth more than my soul. There will never, because what we're saying, in other words, is there is nothing that's more valuable to me than my life being in the hands of my creator. Nothing. There is nothing more valuable to me, there's nothing worth more to me than God being the director of my life and I surrender it all to him. So if that means I have to say no to the job and keep my soul, okay. If that means I have to say no to the house and that makes me feel like I've arrived and I have to, you know, live in this townhouse, then okay, because I'm gonna live there knowing that my soul is intact and my my soul is in the hands of the one who created me. If I have to say no to that friend group, but now I'm feeling lonely and insignificant, that's okay. Because guess what? The one that loves me, the one that created me, said that he will never leave me nor turn his back on me, so I'm good. And the question today is: are you okay with whatever you have to let go of, whatever gain will be coming from the world in order for you to say, hey, my soul is worth more than that. Hey, I just wanted to take a quick pause in our conversation and introduce you to uh the lover of your soul if you have yet to meet him. I would love to lead you in the prayer of salvation. So if you'd repeat after me, that'd be awesome. Dear God, I know that I am a sinner and I'm in need of a savior. I confess that Jesus is Lord and I want him to be the Lord of my life. I believe that you raised him from the dead to rule and reign for all of eternity. Forgive me of my sins and cleanse me with the precious blood of Jesus. I thank you, Lord, for dying on the cross just for me. In Jesus' name, amen. Hey, if you just prayed that prayer, I want to welcome you to the family of God and just say congratulations. In verse 28, we see, I'm sorry, in verse 27, we see Jesus, and he's talking, he says, after he lets everybody know, hey, what is your soul worth? Is is anything worth more than your soul? And then he goes on to say, the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his father and will judge all people according to their deeds. So he tells us, hey, what is it, what does it benefit you to gain the world and lose your soul? Then he says, I'm coming back to judge, and I'm coming back to judge everybody's deeds. What he's saying is, hey, I'm coming back to judge whether you chose to live the life that I've called you to, or did you choose to sell your soul because of the gain that you could possess? And selling our soul, it might sound so dark and so um spooky and demonic, all the things. But really, what Christ is saying right here is are you gonna choose me or are you gonna choose the God of this world to serve? Are you gonna put a price tag on your soul because of what you see here and on this earth and you want it that bad? Or are you willing to say, no matter what I have to say no to, I'm always saying yes to leaving my soul in the hands of the one that created me? What do you do when God calls you to walk a road you can't see clearly? You walk it by faith. Because he said so, walking the unpaved road by faith is a reminder that you don't need to see the whole journey. You just need to trust the one who called you. Get your copy today on our website and let this book bless you as you take the journey because he said so. We see in John 10 10, this is a verse that most of us are probably privy to, have heard multiple times. And this is where Jesus is talking about the good shepherd and how he compares himself to being a good shepherd. But it also lets us know the enemy and what his goal is in all of this. And it says in verse 10, the thief's purpose is to steal, to kill, and destroy. And Jesus says, But my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. Now let's tie that back into Matthew 16. And if we look for a moment, it says, Hey, what is it worth to lose your soul and gain the world? And I need you to hear me. The enemy wants to make it look so appealing, so attractive, just so hard to say no to that you're willing to put a price tag on your soul. But we just found out what his ultimate goal is through you gaining the world, his ultimate goal is he wants to kill, steal, and destroy what? He wants to steal, kill, and destroy where you get to stand for eternity. He wants to make sure your soul is so far from where it belongs that when it comes to that judgment day and Jesus comes down to judge people based on their deeds, that you fall in the category of, oh, you are one of the ones that sold your soul for the gain of this world. That's where he's hoping that he can get everyone to fall in that category of, oh, you sold your soul for the big house or the fancy car or the title or the friend group or the claps and the accolades and the applause. Oh man, you put a price tag on your soul. And he says, Because my ultimate goal was to kill, steal, and destroy whatever God had for you. Whatever eternal treasure God has for us, the enemy's goal is to kill, steal, and destroy so that we never walk in it. Whether that's here in this life or when we go and stand in front of our Maker for judgment day for our eternal home. He wants to make sure, okay, I want to wreak havoc on your life here on earth, and I want to make sure you live away apart from God for eternity. And so he says, How can I get these people to gain the world and be willing to sell their soul? And then Jesus says, Is there anything worth that? Is there anything worth that? And I think just me personally, I feel like he's asking that question for all of us to take a self-assessment. Is there anything worth that? Is there anything that you would say yes to? If so, he's saying, Hey, bring it to me, because I don't want to have to come back as that righteous judge that judges you off the fact that these are your deeds. You chose not to live that spiritual route. You chose to take the worldly gain. And now I've got a judge based on that. He's saying, hey, so search your hearts now and ask yourself, is there anything worth more than your soul? And if it is, come to me. Because he says, I'm the good shepherd. I came to give you a rich and satisfying life. So if there is anything in this world that has a hold on you, bring it to me. And then I'll tell you the truth of what I have for you. Because what I have for you is rich and satisfying, and it's gonna be more than anything you can gain from this world. But y'all, he's asking us to search our heart in regards to this question while we still have time so that we can say, oh gosh, I really have put a price on my soul. Oh gosh, I didn't realize this thing has a hold on me or or that that thing has a or that title or this promotion or this friend group or this whatever it is has a hold on me in a way that I'm willing to compromise my soul for it. I would say search your heart today. Because trust me, reading it has had me search in my heart. If there is anything in this world you can't let go of, you put a price tag on your soul. It's got you more than the maker that created you. There is nothing in this world that should hold us tighter than our maker. If there is anything in this world that has a hold of you because of the gain you get from it, you have put a price tag on your soul. I am not saying that in judgment. I am saying that because I love you, and just like Christ, he's saying, is anything worth that? And he's letting us know through the question. It's almost like he answers his own question and lets us know there's nothing worth that. Because it might look like it in the moment, but when I come back to judge, I've got to judge you for that. And I don't want to judge you being on the wrong side of eternity. I want to judge you where I can welcome you into the party and enjoy it for eternity. There's nothing worth more than your soul. Nothing. No one, no place, no thing, no title, no brand. There is nothing worth more than your soul. And it belongs in the hands of your Maker. And if it's there and it stays there, Christ promises us that He's the good shepherd. He will keep watch over us, and He came so that we can live a rich and satisfying life. I don't know about you, but I'd rather experience the rich and satisfying life that my Lord and Savior died for me to have than to live in the deceit of the gain that I get to experience temporarily, but ultimately I lose my soul. Thanks for hanging out with me in the Word. I hope it encouraged your heart and gave you something to carry into the rest of the week. If it spoke to you, share this with someone who might need it too. And hey, don't forget to follow or to subscribe so you don't miss out on what's next. Until then, keep showing up, keep listening, and let his word lead the way.